Grain-car door



.July 17, 1923.

GRAIN CAR DOOR` Filed July 1920 y 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 w.. VW/2., L.

INVENTOR;

July 17, 1923. 1.461.839

` H. M. TENNEsoN GRAIN CAR DooR Filed July a 1920 2 sheets-heet 2 IN VEN TOR.

Patented July 1 7, 1 923.

MTE y STATES yHENRY 111. rnivnnson, or annessione, nonrn DAKOTA.

GRAIN-OAR DOOR.

Application iiledy July 8,

T 0 all 'whom t may concern 1 Be it known that l, HENRY M. TnNNnsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Galesburg, in the `county of Traill and State oi? North Dakota, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Grain Car Doors, of which the following is a specification. y

This inventionrelates to' grain car doors and the primary Object of the invention is to generally improve the structure used for forming a door` to prevent grainv from leaking out of the car while the same is in transit. f

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a iieXibl'e door which may be opened and closed by raising the door to a position beneath therooi of the car or lowering the door to close the door way in the car, prodoor in operativeposition.

cAnother obj ect of the inventiony is to provision being made fior rigidly/[holding the lvide a door comprising connected strips arranged so as to affecte. tight closure when `the door is in operative position, but which open-position.

Other `objects of the invention will` appear upon consideration of the following detail description and accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1v is a transverse section through the body of the car and showing the doors in operative position. y

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a portion of one of the doors.

Figure 3 is a detail section of one of the fastening elements for the door.

Figure 4c is a detail fragmentary section of a portion oi the supporting means for the door.

Figure 5 is a longitudinalsection taken approximately on the line 55 of Fig. 1, and

Figure 6 is a perspective viewof the outlet opening structure to permit the grain to be removed from the car.

Referring to the drawings by numerals, the car body is of the usual construction and it is to be understood that thev door structure may be adapted to `be used on dif-` ferent types and sizes of cars. Each doorway is provided with one of the doors 1 and each door consists of a plurality of strips 2 which have their marginal edges provided with tongues 3 which provide lap may be` readily released to be moved to an vdoor to readily .slideover the tracks'.

1920. yserial no. 394,643.

inoperative position. yEach rail 6k consistsl `of parallel rail members 8 laterally spacedl apart and supporting in the space between them, the pulleys or wheels 9 over which the chains 5 arer adapted to travel. Since the chains yare connected to the strips of the door and since the strips are loosely connected at their joints it will be obvious that the door will readily `follow the line of the track when thechains are pulled upwardly. The track section 7 is below the track sec tion 6 so that the'door at one side of the car may be drawn upon the track 6 while the door at the opposite side will be drawn over the track 7 and beneath the track 6L The tracks 6 and 7 arefsupported by suitable hangers 10 illustrated in Fig. l and showing the door resting upon the sections of the trackw'ay inV a manner` that will permit the The chains areJ of; sufficient length to extend across the trackways when thedoorsare in closed positiony and suitable fastening ele,- ments 11 are provided for the ends of the chains so that the loose ends may be retained in position when the device is in operative position.

` As shown in Fig. 5, there are ten strips provided in the door and these are adapted mitting them to readily turn over the curved ends of the tracks when the doors are drawn upwardly to open position. The lowermost cleats 16 are slightly longer than the uppermost cleats l2 since the lowermost strip of the series is wider than the other strips. The cleats 16 are provided with pivot bolts 17 and elongated, slots 18 through which the pivot bolts pass and permit the cleats to be moved to the positions shown by dotted lines in Fig. 5 and also by full lines shown in F ig. 2so that the ends of the cleats may be supported in a bracket 19.

The lowermost strip of the series is provided with an outlet opening 2O closed by a door 21 which is adapted to travel through grooves y22` whereby the opening maybe opened and closed to control the discharge of the grain from the car.'

To effect a tight hold forthe door, the bolts 13 and 17 extend through the door and each has an'eyelet at one end on the outside surface of the door as indicated at 2a while the opposite end of the bolt is screw threaded to receive a turn nut 25 equipped with a handle member 26.v The eyelet 211 receives a hook 27 which is adapted to enga-ge an eyelet 28 Vmounted in the door post 29. These Y hooks 27 are releasably engaged with the eyelets 28 so that the door may be quickly released when it is desired that the doors be opened. The uppermost strip is provided with a downwardly extending angularly disposed bolt 30 at each end thereof, and the hook 31 is adapted to engage an eyelet 32 disposed in 'a position to cause the hook to be maintained at an angle as shown inFig. 1 so that a downward and outward pull is exerted by the hooks to draw the door downvw'ardly thus assisting in maintaining the door tightly in position. s l

They advantages of the struct-ure referred to will be readily-appreciated and attention is directed to the fact that the cleats l2 and 16 when in theposition` shown by full lines in, Fig. 5, will rigidly maintain the door in y.

resinas the car is filled with grain and the doors are closed, the retaining bolts will yprevent movement of the door and the grain will not leak from the car. The closure door 21 may be opened to empty the car of the grain and the size of the opening may be controlled as a..

desired.

Minor changes in the details of construe tion may be made without departing from the scope'of the claim hereunto appended. l

`Vhat I claim is In combination with a car having a door way, a plurality of strips forming a grain door, lap joints at the marginal edgeof the strips, means flexibly connecting th brace cleats having slots at one end carried by the screw bolts and adapted at times to extend transversely across the joints of said strips, wing nutspthreaded on the bolts for clamping the cleats in adjusted positions,

and hooks pivoted to the opposite ends of said bolts adapted to engageeyelets carried .by the door Way to effect a tight closure when the door is in operative position.

In testimony whereof, I have aliXed my signature in the presence of two witnesses. HENRY M. TENNESON. lVitnesses:

A J. R. MILLER, N. G.' MILLE-R.

l strips. screw bolts passing through certain Strips, 

